Chapter Ten

I think I'd rather be alone…
-Entertainment by Phoenix

I was gently shaken awake by Eli. I was tightly curled up in my sleeping bag, freezing from Canada's morning air.

I blinked a few times, my eyes focusing at the sky. The whole sky seemed golden, and you could barely see the clear outline of the bubble.

My eyes shifted towards Eli, who stood above me. I could see the white puffs of his breath as he exhaled. He shivered slightly against the wind.

He gave me his hand and pulled me up, handing me my backpack as he began to pack up our sleeping bags. "I wanna get to the grocery store before we do anything else," Eli said, stuffing one of the sleeping bags in his backpack.

I scoffed, "You're kidding me, right? Do you know how many people are there? Last time I went by there, they were all fighting over food that wasn't even there!"

Eli sighed, "Then we'll just blend in the best we can or just sneak in. But we really need to get there."

"Why? There isn't any food."

Eli rolled his eyes and stuffed the last of our things in his bag, "Well, maybe we're not going for food. I have a friend I need to pay a visit to."

I gaped, "I'm here for my car! I'm not you're excuse so you can go see a friend!"

Eli shook his head, "No, no it's not like that. This visit is going to benefit us."

I sighed. I just wanted my car.

"Listen," I began, "I can get to my car by myself."

Eli arched an eyebrow, "I seriously doubt that. But what will you do after that?"

I shrugged, "Go back out in the woods and wait till we get saved, I guess."

Eli chuckled, "Yeah, because that worked so well last time."

I rolled my eyes, "Stuff it, Eli. I can take care of myself."

"I practically saved your ass! Without me, you wouldn't even be here!" Eli exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air.

"I don't even know why you helped me in the first place! I can survive without you."

Eli looked down at his feet, "Yeah, sure. Whatever."

I put my hands on my hips, "Tell me, though. Why did you save me?"

Eli bit his lip and began walking. He jumped through a hole in the fence without looking back.

"C'mon, Eli. You can answer that, can you?" I called smugly.

Eli still ignored me.

I shook my head. Everything was so weird now. Dr. Doom is taking the role as my savior, a resistance tried shooting us, a gang is holding all the food captive in a rice factory, and we were all stuck together under this bubble. Like one big, unhappy family.

I pushed my frizzy bangs out my face and sighed, "Okay, who is you're friend, then? And how are they going to help us?'

"Her name is Imogen," He began, finally talking, "she is probably one of the strongest and most trustworthy here. She can give us weapons and some food."

He talked about her with such admiration, a pang of jealousy shot through me.

"Oh."

We crept through the allies, trying to avoid people as much as possible. Every now and then, we would run into a group of people who wanted our packs, but we easily out ran them.

"Just a little bit more now." Eli whispered, as we finished sprinting across one of the main streets. I nodded. My lungs hurt, my face hurt, and my toes hurt. It was freezing out here.

We tried our best to keep in the shadows as we made our way.

"Why didn't we just do this at night?" I asked, adjusting my backpack's straps.

"More people are out at night, I've noticed. Easier to get caught."

I didn't agree, but I just shrugged anyway.

"Here we are," Eli said, stopping across the street of the grocery store. From over his shoulder I could already see clumps of people fighting or just sitting around. The whole town looked like a riot.

I sighed, "How do we get there unnoticed? They'll attack us once they see our backpacks."

Eli looked around and walked to a dumpster. He tried to open it as quietly as he could without making much of a creak sound and threw his backpack in. I did the same.

"Now just act hungry." Eli said, beginning his walk to the grocery store.

"I am hungry." I replied.

"Shut up."

We probably looked extremely stupid, sucking in our stomachs and trying to make our cheeks hollow. We tried to look down as much as possible.

No one attacked us. So far so good.

I chanced a glance up and saw a little boy looking at us in curiosity, and I quickly looked down.

We walked in the entrance and the whole place was trashed. Aisle after aisle was knocked down. Dirt, bones, and wrappers scattered the floor. I was confused at the bones, but then I realized that these people were starving. They were eating rats. I gulped.

I felt so guilty. I had all this food and was keeping it to myself.

Eli seemed to be reading my mind and grabbed my wrist, "When it comes to survival, it's every man for himself. Don't feel bad." He led me to the back of the store.

We approached a red, metal door with a sign that read 'Employees Only'.

Eli knocked the door three times, paused, knocked ten, then kicked the door with amazing force. I looked at him with confusion and he just shrugged, "Our secret knock."

The red door immediately swung open to reveal a gorgeous skinny, punk-looking girl. Her dark hair that was highlighted pink was pulled in a high ponytail and wise brown eyes peered through her glasses. No wonder Eli admired her so much. "Hey."

Eli waved, "Hey."

"Who's this?" She said pointing to me, I gave a small, weak wave.

"Clare." Eli said without much interest. He was too busy looking at Imogen in a way that bothered me. Why was I jealous?

Imogen nodded and quickly pulled us in the room, locking the door behind her.